Forgotten Day
by Turmanarmo
Summary: "Come on Ero-Sennin, how can you not know what the date is dattebayo? I thought you were supposed to be the responsible one here, though I suppose I should have known better." As an important day approaches, will Jiraiya remember its significance?


**Turmanarmo: Welcome to my very first Oneshot. I hope you all enjoy this slightly late birthday present for our favorite blond Shinobi.**

**Jiraiya: Why do you hate me so much man, I would never be as bad as you portray me in this story.**

**Turmanarmo: Sorry, I have never particularly liked you Jiraiya, sure, you aren't a horrible character, but I like Sarutobi and Kakashi (even if he does a terrible job in the series) more for father figures than you. It is just how I see it. Honestly, I even prefer Tsunade as a mother figure to you as a father figure, though that one confuses me for some reason. Anyways, you aren't portrayed that poorly in this story, I tried not to let my dislike of you color my portrayal since I always go on about how much I hate bashing. Now stop griping and get on with the disclaimer.**

**Jiraiya: Fine, fine. Turmanarmo does not own my godson or any of the characters of the story that shares his name. You should support the official release if you can. That however should not stop you from reading these fictions. There are many great stories on this site and quite a few of you are authors after my own heart. Now if you will excuse me, I am off to read some of the more *ahem* exciting stories stored here.**

**Turmanarmo: Sigh, you never change. Anyways, have fun reading this and please review.**

It was a calm fall day in the plains of the Land of Iron as a strange pair walked along the road heading east. The one in the lead was a teen boy named Naruto with spiky blond hair, whisker marks on his cheeks, and bright blue eyes. He was wearing a white shirt and blue Shinobi pants and was smiling as they walked. To most, this would seem quite strange as this particular youth usually wore his trademark orange jumpsuit. However, a couple of factors had conspired to keep him out of his favorite color. The first of these was the fact that he only had a few sets of the jumpsuit and the training over the last two years had eventually shredded all but one of these. The second factor was the fact that he had finally hit a proper growth spurt; due in part, to his more healthy eating habits and the fact that he was in the heart of his teen years, which had made him too tall to wear his one remaining jumpsuit.

The second person was an older male named Jiraiya with long spiky white hair and red lines going from the bottom of his black eyes down to his jaw. He was wearing his normal outfit of a gray-green short kimono and pants over top of mesh armor. Over this, he also wore his red haori and had a scroll strapped to his back. This man however was frowning as they walked along the path due to his apprentice in front of him.

Jiraiya could tell that the smile his apprentice was wearing was fake and had only appeared because he had asked Naruto what was bothering him. For the past several days, the normally hyperactive Shinobi had been much more sedate and had seemed much more depressed than usual. At first Jiraiya had put this off to the boy thinking about his teammate Sasuke again. It was around the time when Sasuke had left after all. However, Jiraiya realized soon that this was not the case, anytime the knucklehead thought about his ex-teammate, he would only grow more passionate about his training, not mope around. There had to be something else bothering the teen, the only question was what.

Jiraiya tried to think if something else that had happened lately that might have caused this change in mood. Over the last few months, the growth spurt and significantly more normal attire had attracted the eyes of a handful of young females in the last few villages. The brat always seemed oblivious to their advances however, and when he did notice them, he always kindly refused. This was not likely to be the reason though since Naruto had informed him that he wasn't interested in these girls he wasn't going to see again, and that he already had a crush back home. Jiraiya had scoffed at him outwardly for missing the opportunity. Inwardly though he had been proud of the brat for emulating his father and being faithful to his crush, even if he didn't know he was mimicking Minato's actions towards Kushina.

Okay, so girls weren't the issue, maybe the kid was homesick or just lonely. Jiraiya shook his head at that possibility as well; as sad as it was, the kid was so used to having been completely alone for so long that even one person was enough to keep him happy. In addition, as much as he missed his friends, he knew that he would see them soon and that along with his reasons for training had always helped him cheer up whenever he had been homesick before. Maybe it was the time of year. Naruto had lost one of his oldest connections in Sarutobi-sensei in September and then Sasuke had left in November, so maybe that was it, he was pretty sure it was around that time of year, though he wasn't totally sure of the date himself.

Deciding to check on that, he called out to his apprentice, "Hey Gaki, do you happen to know what the date is? I can't for the life of me remember."

As Naruto stiffened slightly before continuing on his way, Jiraiya smirked and thought, _'Gotcha, so the date has something to do with it, now I just need to figure out what.'_

Naruto groaned as he said, "Come on Ero-Sennin, how can you not know what the date is dattebayo? I thought you were supposed to be the responsible one here, though I suppose I should have known better. The date is October 1st, do you need to know the year two Ero-Sennin, or do you at least know that much."

Jiraiya frowned again, now he had both the date and more proof that something was wrong, Naruto rarely ever got in moods like this and seemed so hostile. What in the world could be wrong? Thinking about it, the brat had been similarly grumpy last year around this time, but then it had passed and things had gone on as usual so what, if anything, was different about this year. Moreover, what was significant about October, sure the months on either side of it held a tragedy for the kid, but he couldn't think of anything specifically bad happening to Naruto in October. Okay maybe it didn't have to do with Naruto in particular, so what else happened in October?

If his memory served him Orochimaru was born in October, but he doubted Naruto knew that, and he was certain a couple other people were born in October, but he couldn't remember who else. Okay what besides birthdays happened in October? Tsunade had been inaugurated as Hokage, but that wouldn't really get Naruto down, he seemed to have developed a liking to his buxom teammate and oddly enough, she had done so to Naruto as well.

Okay what other events had happened in October?

As his mind scanned for a date of significance, his face suddenly jolted up as he remembered a set of important events that all took place on the same date in October and promptly face palmed from his stupidity. At the sound Naruto turned around and glared at his teacher saying, "What in the world are you doing back there Ero-Sennin. And why did it sound like you just smacked someone?"

Jiraiya grimaced slightly as he replied, "Nothing Naruto, I was just thinking about something and realized I had forgotten to get someone a birthday present. Spending all this time training and traveling with you has made me forget some stuff and it made me want to face palm."

Naruto looked interested as he replied, "Oh, whose birthday did you forget, and what are you getting them?"

In true Jiraiya fashion, he smirked and said, "Oh the same thing I get him every year. I always send a card with a referral slip for a pedophilia psychiatrist and rigged with an explosive note to Orochimaru since his birthday is around the end of the month."

At this, Naruto's face turned sour once more and he turned back around and proceeded to march on to their destination a bit faster. He missed the slightly apologetic look on Jiraiya's face as he picked up the pace to follow.

* * *

><p>Later that night, when Jiraiya would normally be making the rounds to his spy network contacts in the red light district he slipped silently out of the village and proceeded to a clearing. When he was sure no one was around he promptly went through a series of hand signs before summoning a small messenger toad and after writing a message and placing it in the tube, he dismissed the toad to deliver the message. Jiraiya smirked to himself as he walked back to the room.<p>

* * *

><p>The next morning Naruto awoke even more grumpy than usual. He couldn't believe Jiraiya had forgotten. How could he forget? Not only that, but he managed to remember the creep Orochimaru's birthday instead. Why would he bother remembering that, plus how exactly did he send a card to Orochimaru anyways, Jiraiya had admitted that he didn't usually know where exactly the Snake man was. So how was he supposed to send him a card, had that all been one of his lame attempts at a joke?<p>

After giving up on that train of thought, he sat up and turned to see if Jiraiya had come back yet or if he would have to go out and find him. He was shocked to see said man sitting on the floor on the other side of the room. There were several things shocking about this. Ignoring that Jiraiya was often hungover in the morning and so, rarely awake, there was also the fact that he was currently staring at Naruto and had his notebook out. Naruto blinked a couple of times as he looked around; the only time Jiraiya had that notebook out was when he was doing his 'research.' This made him shiver and sincerely hope he was just spacing out and not actually watching him for his research.

When he glared at his Shishou, he was disturbed to notice Jiraiya smile sheepishly before he looked away and muttered something under his breath. Naruto nearly gaged as he considered why the pervert might have been watching him and sincerely hoped that he hadn't been doing or saying anything in his sleep that would 'inspire' the man.

After getting over that disturbing thought he glared at Jiraiya again before saying, "So Ero-Sennin, what are we doing today?"

Jiraiya coughed slightly before he glanced over at Naruto before saying, "Well I was planning to review your Taijutsu again to see how you have been progressing on learning the new forms I taught you. After that we will practice Taijutsu for a while and then once I am satisfied with that we will work on your Genjutsu breaking again until I am satisfied, even if it takes all week."

Naruto groaned thinking about working on Genjutsu, even if he knew he really needed to. At least he wasn't just being completely ignored. Most of the few times the old pervert wasn't hungover he was preparing to go off and do some of his spying stuff. Sure, he was spying all the time, but if it was so serious that he couldn't take Naruto along, he usually tried to avoid anything that could put him in danger as well. It wasn't like Naruto didn't get training on those days either, Jiraiya always left him with some task to do and there was usually a toad left to watch him, but it just wasn't the same, even if Jiraiya was more of a let you figure it out yourself kind of teacher. Ignoring his train of thought, Naruto stood up before quickly changing into his training gear and following Jiraiya to the training ground.

* * *

><p>For the next week, they worked on the same set of things. They worked on either Taijutsu, Kage Bunshin, or Rasengan in the morning and they alternated between working on Genjutsu breaking and Kyuubi Chakra control in the afternoon. When October 7th rolled around Naruto was thoroughly confused, Jiraiya hadn't been hungover any single day and they had trained quite a bit more intensively than they normally did. Sure Naruto had learned a lot over his nearly two years on the road, but he would definitely be happy if they could train like this a bit more often. However, his potential good mood was hampered by the fact that the pervert had still seemingly forgotten his birthday.<p>

When the eighth day rolled around Naruto was hoping things would be the same, but could tell something was up when he saw Jiraiya's serious face as he approached the training grounds. When he stood across from his Shishou he heard the man say, "Unfortunately something has come up and I am going to need to be gone for the next few days, I am going to leave you with Gamariki to practice your Genjutsu breaking some more, so be good."

Naruto frowned as he said, "Ugh, not him. He gives me the creeps and his Genjutsu are always the weirdest. Couldn't you leave me with anyone else?"

Jiraiya snorted and replied, "Sure I could, but most of the other toads who are at least decently proficient in Genjutsu can't help to defend you as well, and the two who could would also require a huge amount of Chakra to summon. Sorry brat, but you will just have to live with it. Now, Summoning Jutsu!"

With that, a man-sized toad with a very 'flamboyant' appearance arrived. Jiraiya looked at the toad and said, "Alright Gamariki, as we discussed I want you to help Naruto with his Genjutsu until I return, I should be back in a few days so try not to kill each other while I am gone will you. Anyways, goodbye Naruto, and try not to slack off." With that, Naruto saw him jump away and he turned to glare at his temporary teacher, his slight good mood thoroughly ruined.

As Jiraiya stood in the trees above he glanced down at his pupil and muttered, "Sorry Naruto, I have something to take care of personally, I will be back as soon as I can."

* * *

><p>Two days later Naruto awoke with a groan. This was it; it was October 10th, his birthday. He looked over hopefully and saw that Jiraiya was still not back and that Gamariki was still sitting in the room. Even if he had to forget, why did he also have to be gone for his birthday and leave him with this creepy toad?<p>

Naruto got up and prepared for the day. When he realized that Gamariki wasn't awake yet, he decided to go do some training on his own before he was subjected to those creepy Genjutsu again. As he arrived at the training field, he quickly began going over some of the Taijutsu sets Jiraiya had taught him.

He was so caught up in his training that he didn't realize that he had spent most of the morning doing so and it was almost noon. He had also failed to notice that he was being watched until the person decided to announce their presence by tossing something at Naruto.

Naruto's senses reacted just in time and he deftly dodged the attack only to be hit in the face and chest by a second set of projectiles. When he realized the pain was not fatal, he opened his eyes and found that the projectiles had been water balloons filled with pink paint. His attacker's identity was also revealed to be none other than the now hysterically laughing Jiraiya.

Naruto glared as he shouted, "What was that for 'tebayo!"

Once Jiraiya managed to regain some control, he said between laughs, "Well, I want to get you some new clothes and decided to send the old ones out with a bang. I know I told you to start wearing more normal stuff, but that stuff just isn't you, plus they were starting to smell. Now let's go get you some gear."

Naruto growled, "I can't go into town dripping pink paint, and you could have just told me instead of ruining these clothes."

Jiraiya grinned as he replied, "Sure I could have, but this allowed me to have some fun and get back at you for some of the pranks you pulled on me as well. Just go have a dip in the river to wash off most of the paint, and then we can go."

Naruto stomped off to a nearby stream and jumped in to wash off some of the paint and when he emerged again, he noticed that his shirt had been stained a pale pink color. He glared at the man before grinding out, "Fine let's go."

When they arrived at town, Naruto kept getting strange looks from many of the people and couldn't help but blush in embarrassment. He followed Jiraiya until they arrived at the shop of a local tailor and as they entered Naruto heard the man at the counter say, "Ah, Jiraiya-sama, are you here to pick up your order. Oh, this must be the young man the getup is for. I must say, this was a rather strange request, but I believe I managed to make it look okay."

Naruto was intrigued now, why had Jiraiya had something made for him instead of just purchasing an outfit, and how did he know Naruto's measurements? When they arrived in the back room the man pulled out a bag with some clothes in it and handed it over before saying, "I changed your design somewhat, I felt that the color looked better with black than blue and I extended it down the sleeves and zipper area. I also changed the collar and removed the hanging tassel from the crest, though you could slip it into the side of the crest if you wish."

By now, Naruto was thoroughly confused and so he asked, "Excuse me, but what is going on here, how do you know my measurements well enough to actually get something made for me and what does this new getup look like already."

Jiraiya snorted as he said, "Well getting your measurements was easy, I can pretty accurately guess anyone's measurements with just a glance. As to what it looks like, here have the bag and go change in that room over there. See what you think."

Naruto looked confused and obediently took the bag and walked over. When he entered, Jiraiya began counting on his fingers with a sly grin on his face as he whispered, "Five, Four, Three, Two, One, and …"

At that moment, there was a whoop from the changing room and a shout of, "Yes! It's orange!"

Jiraiya's grin grew as a he shared a look with the shop owner who chuckled at the males antics. A short while later Naruto emerged wearing orange pants and an orange jacket with black over its sleeves, zipper, and shoulders. There was a white swirl design on the left shoulder and a red swirl in the middle of the back. The teen had yet to zip up the jacket and underneath he had on a set of mesh armor. Naruto grinned brightly as he looked up at the two and asked, "So, what do you think? I love it."

As Jiraiya nodded his approval, the tailor spoke up, "Good, I figured you might. Jiraiya-sama insisted that it had to have the color orange as the primary and brought in one of your old jumpsuits as an example. I found that your old suit was simply a standard jumpsuit, which explains why your rigorous training tore them up. I made the new set out of the material used in Shinobi gear so it should be much more resilient to wear and tear and should have a moderate resistance to cutting. The mesh armor is made of a similar material but woven in a pattern that makes it slightly more effective at preventing blades from piercing too far into you. I chose to make the item a slight bit larger than requested to give the boy some room to grow but as per usual, the slight elastic properties of the Shinobi material will make it stay on him well and even allow it to expand a small amount after he reaches the size I made it. As per your request I have made seven of them, now let's talk price."

Naruto continued to marvel at his new getup and smiled brightly at how much cooler he looked. He could hear the two adults talking in the background and swore he heard Jiraiya choke when he was told the price but the man paid for it nonetheless much to Naruto's surprise. As they left the shop, he wondered if Jiraiya had remembered his birthday and this was his gift or if the man had simply decided to buy him some new gear. Either way today was turning out better than he had hoped, though he couldn't help hoping that the old pervert had remembered.

After that, they had made a stop at a local delivery shop as well and picked up a package that Jiraiya quickly sealed away before heading off to lunch. Nothing else big really happened for most of the day, Naruto and Jiraiya trained away the afternoon after having their lunch and when evening came it was beginning to look like Jiraiya had still forgotten about his birthday. Naruto was rather confused though when he noticed Jiraiya was not headed back to their room after training, but rather to a different field.

When they arrived he voiced his confusion and asked, "Hey, Ero-Sennin, what are we doing out here?"

The sage turned around and grinned before saying, "Oh nothing much Naruto, I just need to do some stuff before we head back home. First, Summoning Jutsu."

Naruto blinked a few times as Jiraiya summoned a toad that seemed to be carrying a box. Naruto decided to say, "Hey, why did you receive a package from the toads? And why didn't you just have it sent regular like the package you received earlier? … Wait, where is that smell coming from, do I smell … Ramen!?"

Jiraiya grinned as he said, "I do normally use the other services for shipping unless I need the item to be sent securely or quickly, this shipment was special and had to be delivered fresh."

Naruto looked puzzled before asking, "Not that I don't appreciate you letting me eat Ramen, but why did you have to order it, couldn't we have just gone to the stand in town?"

Jiraiya didn't answer as he pulled the containers out of the package the toad had brought and Naruto's eyes bugged out when he noticed the insignia they sported. There was the equivalent of several large bowls of ramen, and they were all from Ichiraku! Upon sniffing the air again, he confirmed that they did indeed smell like Ichiraku ramen, and Miso to boot.

After the pair ate their fill of the ramen, with Naruto eating the most by far, Jiraiya proceeded to open the sealing scroll from earlier and produced the package he had picked up in town. However before Naruto could voice his renewed confusion Jiraiya opened it up and passed him a set of cards.

Naruto looked even more confused before he heard Jiraiya say, "Oh just read them already Gaki!"

Naruto complied and opened up the first card, it was from Tsunade and read, _'Naruto, it has been a while since we last saw you brat, I hope your training is going alright and that you are not being corrupted by my pervert of a teammate too much. Try to have fun on your birthday. –Tsunade P.S. If Jiraiya tries to take you somewhere inappropriate just because you are turning 15 I will find out and he can expect to die when he comes back.'_ Naruto wasn't sure how to react until he noticed the little chibi drawing of Tsunade pummeling Jiraiya on the bottom of the note and he promptly devolved into laughter.

After showing the note and drawing to Jiraiya, the man grunted and said, "Sheesh, I wasn't planning on doing anything like that. Taking you somewhere like that is for your sixteenth birthday, doesn't she know anything."

Naruto snorted again at that before he was handed a package with a label that indicated it was from Tsunade and Naruto promptly opened it. Inside he found a few new sets of Shinobi sandals in black as well as a longer headband strap in black so he could start wearing his headband again.

After setting those aside he opened the next card and found that it was from Iruka. It read, _'Dear Naruto, I hope your training with Jiraiya-sama is going well and that you are safe and enjoying your birthday. You have probably already eaten my present since Teuchi and I were the ones who got you the ramen. Keep safe and I will see you in about a year. –Iruka.'_ Naruto grinned happily and noticed that this one contained a chibi image of a smiling Teuchi, Ayame, and Iruka making some ramen.

The next card was from Kakashi and Sakura and had two separate notes, _'Yo Naruto, how is training with Jiraiya going? I hope you are doing well and growing strong. I have been going on near nonstop missions here in the village until just recently since it appears things are finally starting to settle down again. I wasn't really sure what to get you for your birthday in all honesty. I thought about getting you a mask like mine, but I figured you wouldn't really want to wear that so I decided to get you something a bit more practical. –Kakashi'_

'_Naruto, sorry about forgetting to send you something last year. We were all still busy from the increased mission load after the invasion and preparing for the Chuunin exams that I hadn't thought about it until recently and even then, Tsunade said that if Jiraiya hadn't reported on your location recently we wouldn't have even known where to send it anyways. Regardless, I hope you like the gift I got you; it is something that Tsunade-Shishou helped me make. Oh and just in case you are wondering, training with her is going great, I am learning a lot about medicine and I should be more useful when you come back –Sakura'_

Naruto chuckled when he saw the chibi drawing of Kakashi waving while reading his book and Sakura waving while glaring at the offending item. He was then presented with a pair of packages, one of which contained a set of explosive notes and a Jutsu scroll containing the information for the Shunshin. The second package contained a custom medical kit and some other medical supplies. Naruto had a huge grin on his face with these gifts and quickly moved on to the next card.

This one was from team 10 and was written in very frilly looking text, _'Hey Naruto, it has been rather quiet around without you here. I mean sure Kiba and Lee are still very noisy, but you know what I mean. There was a man from Wave here recently who we had to escort back to his village. Why didn't you ever tell us that you had a bridge named after you? The guy told us about how your team had saved them from a tyrant named Gato and they decided to name the bridge after you because of all you had done for his family. The man's grandson was also disappointed that your team was not available to do the escort since he was looking forward to seeing you again. And don't worry, this one did end up being an uneventful C rank, though the guy apparently paid for it as an A Rank, something about making up for lying last time. Anyways, have a happy birthday Naruto –Team 10.'_ The doodle on this one showed Team 10 relaxing and looking up at some clouds that looked like a chibi Naruto. The following package contained some special food, soldier, and blood pills made by their clans. After opening it, Naruto looked up at Jiraiya and said, "I didn't know that Tazuna named his bridge after me."

Ignoring Jiraiya's silly smirk he opened the next note which was from team 8 and read, _'Hey Naruto, we hope you are getting strong while traveling with Jiraiya, otherwise you won't be able to keep up with us when you get back. We don't really have much to say, Shino just wishes you a happy birthday and Hinata unfortunately fainted when I asked her what she wanted to say to you. So I guess just have fun on your day and try not to slack off too much. –Team 8.' _The picture was of Team 8 training with Kurenai waving in the background. The package contained a set of high quality Kunai and Shuriken, some smoke bombs, and flash bombs.

The final card was from Team Guy and read, _'Naruto, We hope you are training hard with Jiraiya and that you continue to grow as a Shinobi. We look forward to your return and to working with you in the future. –Team Guy P.S. Lee says I should also encourage you to keep growing during your Springtime of Youth. Sorry.' _The chibi drawing on this one was of Lee and Guy were doing mirrored good guy poses, Tenten had spelled out happy birthday with weapons and was waving, and Neji was smirking at him (but in a friendly way, not a smug way). Naruto snorted when he read that and moved on to opening the package and inside he found some training weights, a couple of storage scrolls, and a new gear pouch.

After reading all the notes and getting his gifts he looked up at Jiraiya and smiled softly before mumbling, "I thought you had forgotten, sorry for being such a brat."

At this Jiraiya burst out laughing and struggled out a between laughs, "I had forgotten Gaki. I only remembered when you reminded me about the date. I don't normally keep track of what day it is outside of the general season we are in. Sorry I nearly forgot you birthday though Naruto."

Naruto looked over before chuckling over the fact that the old pervert had in fact nearly forgotten his birthday, but in the end he managed to make it one of the better birthdays he had had in quite some time. Even if he missed his friends, he was happy to know they all still thought about him and was excited to make use out of all of their gifts. He stopped his happy train of thought when Jiraiya walked over to him and ruffled his hair before suggesting, "Naruto, you should probably pack your stuff up. Fill your new pouches with as much as you need and put the rest in the storage scrolls you got. It looks like the pouch they got you has scroll slots for your storage scrolls or any other scrolls you want to carry around. We should probably head back to the Inn and get a good night's sleep; we need to move on to the next town tomorrow, we have spent too long in one place already."

Naruto quickly did as he was told and they were soon on their way back to the room. Despite his earlier bad mood, he had ended up having a wonderful day today and was ready to continue his training with his Shishou. Plus the fact that he only had about a year left before he could go home and see all of his precious people was nice as well. Now he just hoped (perhaps foolishly) that the next birthday would be as good as this one.

**Alright, this story had 5169 words in it. Sorry I didn't get it up on 10/10 like I hoped, but it is totally still his birthday so long as you live somewhere in the middle of the Pacific ocean, like maybe Hawaii or something. Though it is like 10:30 PM even there when I am posting this.**

**I had hoped to post the first chapter of my second multi chapter story but I want to have a bit more of it done before I start posting and even though I am done with nearly 3 chapters of it I have hit a road block and do not particularly like it for some reason. It is the second version of the story as well. Anyways, I hope you liked this little one shot and I look forward to reading all your reviews, good or bad. Please tell me if there are any major errors of continuity or grammar, I tried to fix all of them, but I can always do better.**

**For any of you who care, you will note I put months to events that do not have a necessarily fixed time in the story (i.e. the death of Hiruzen, Inauguration of Tsunade, and Sasuke leaving). These timeframes come from a timeline I made for myself to help organize when the events of the series happen both before and after the series start. It helps me keep them in order.**


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